The place that he was now entering had been the favourite habitation of his brother, where his days of happiness and sunshine had been passed, and whence his virtues had made themselves felt and beloved through all the country round. There were many recollections and associations then connected with that spot which, as it may easily be conceived, were not a little painful to the man who now entered it: and although he sometimes visited the house, and had once or twice in twenty years spent a day within its walls, yet he had never been able to vanquish the distress that the sight occasioned him so far as to live in it for any length of time. He now beheld it in a state which added to the pain whereof other circumstances had rendered it fruitful. It was not exactly going to ruin, for he had given strict orders, and paid large annual sums, for the express purpose of keeping the grounds in order and the house in repair; but those orders had been given from a distance, and had been received with a conviction that the master's eye would never inspect their execution very minutely. There were long tufts of grass in the walks and on the roads, though here and there was to be seen a faint and lazy effort to clear away, by the exertions of a few hours, the shameful negligence of many a day. Some of the trees, which had been felled years before, were rotting in the long dank grass; and the fences which had been placed to keep the deer within their proper bounds lay flat upon the ground, overturned and broken. The road over which the carriage rolled was channelled with deep unmended ruts; and the fine old house, with its closed windows and smokeless chimneys, stood in its wide, open esplanade, like the palace of damp and desertion. Lord Dewry bit his lip, and muttered audibly, "This must be amended. The scoundrels did not expect me to visit the place, and have been shamefully negligent. I will send them away."
But as he thought thus, his other purposes crossed his mind, and brought with it one of those annoying and degrading convictions which so often follow evil actions and crooked policy. He felt that when he was about to engage his park-keepers in an action which his own heart told him was base, he could not dare to treat them severely for the faults they had themselves committed; and to a proud and violent man the restraint which he was obliged to put upon his passions was bitter enough. As the carriage approached the house, hasty symptoms of opening windows and unbarring doors showed that his coming had been remarked; and as he had no ambiguous commands to lay upon the old servants who had been left to keep the mansion in order, upon them fell the full weight of his indignation. When the first angry burst was over, he ordered the old man to call the principal park-keeper; and while he was absent upon that errand, strode gloomily through the dreary chambers, feeling his heart more dark and comfortless than even the long-deserted apartments amid which he stood. He then called for pen and ink, which, after some difficulty, he obtained, and wrote and despatched the note which we have seen delivered to Marian de Vaux.
At length the park-keeper appeared, a bold and sturdy fellow, with no inconsiderable portion of shrewd cunning in his countenance, to which had been superadded at present an air of dogged preparation, occasioned by the tidings of Lord Dewry's anger, which the old man had given him as they walked along towards the house.
"Harvey," said the peer, as the man presented himself, "you have suffered the park to get into a terrible state. I must have all this changed. Those fences must be put up; those trees cleared away: speak to Wilson about the road, and tell him if ever I see it in that state again I shall discharge him; and--do not answer me, but listen; for I came over to speak to you upon matters of more importance.--What are you waiting for, John?"
"I thought your lordship might want me," said the old man, who had lingered in the room.
"No, no, not I," replied the peer: "retire, and shut the door; but take care what you are about, for in future I shall come over at least every month; and if I find the house is not properly attended to after this warning, you and your wife go out of it without another word.--Now, Harvey, tell me," he continued, as the old man withdrew with a low and deprecating bow, "have you many poachers here?"
"Why, no, my lord," replied the park-keeper, his face brightening up to find that the anticipated storm had blown away; "we have not had much of that work doing lately, though I dare say we soon shall have."
"And why so?" demanded Lord Dewry. "I am glad to hear that poaching is on the decrease. What makes you think it will revive again?"
"As to revive, my lord, why, I don't know," replied the man; "but I doubt we shall soon have more of it--so I think. It's just the time, you see, my lord--long moonlight nights, and a good deal of the out-door work over."
The man paused; but these were not the reasons the peer had hoped to hear him assign for his apprehensions of more extended poaching, and found that he must bring him nearer to the point by some direct course. "We have a great deal of poaching near the hall," he said: "Wise tells me that there are a number of bad characters continually in the woods, gipsies and thieves of all descriptions."